Ritz Cinemas

The Story

This archival treasure trove chronicles the rise and role of Melbourne and Sydney filmmaking cooperatives in the 1960s and 1970s.

As notions of civil rights transformed across the world, so was the screen landscape reformed by the ascension of grassroots film movements seeking to challenge the mainstream. Some aspired to push form to its limit; others worked to destabilise what they saw as a homogenous industry, or to provoke questions around gender, sexuality, migration and race. Among those in Australia were the Sydney Filmmakers Co-op and Ubu Films, the Melbourne Co-op, the Sydney Women’s Film Group and the LGBT-focused One in Seven Collective.

SENSES OF CINEMA charts the cultural life of late 20th century Australia through the rise, fall and afterlife of the Filmakers’ Co-operatives – the passionate individuals who moved through them, and the powerfully independent films they made.